1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a screen printing apparatus for printing a paste-like material such as a cream solder on a printing object such as a print substrate via a hole formed on a screen, and a squeegee mechanism used in the screen printing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
From the past, a screen printing apparatus that prints a cream solder on a print substrate has been widely used.
In the screen printing apparatus, a squeegee is provided above a screen on which pattern holes are formed, and a substrate is provided below the screen. A cream solder is supplied to the screen, and the squeegee slides above the screen. When the squeegee slides above the screen, the cream solder is pressed by the squeegee and moves above the pattern holes formed on the screen. As a result, the cream solder is printed on the substrate provided below the pattern holes.
Here, there is a problem that, when the cream solder is pressed by the sliding squeegee and moves on the screen, the cream solder leaks from sides of end portions of the squeegee in a width direction.
As a technique regarding such a problem, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-15307 (paragraphs (0026) and (0031), FIGS. 3 to 5) discloses a squeegee head that is provided with a scraping member at both ends of a squeegee in a width direction, for example. The two scraping members are provided to the squeegee such that they extend to a front side of the squeegee while an interval therebetween is widened toward the front side. The two scraping members scrape off the cream solder sticking out from sides of the squeegee and cause the cream solder to return to the squeegee side.